Editor's Note In the wake of Hurricane Helene and the recent Gulf Coast port strikes, hospitals are raising alarms and pursuing their own strategies for mitigating supply chain disruption even as a second hurricane—Milton—bears down on Florida. As of October 7, dozens of Florida healthcare facilities had suspended services and/or…

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Editor's Note Six US companies will manufacture approximately 250 million medical gowns as part of a government effort to shore up supplies that were subject to shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Associated Press (AP) reported October 3. Led by the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), the initiative…

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Editor's Note The shuttering of a critical Baxter International manufacturing plant in North Carolina due to Hurricane Helene could put significant stress on already strained healthcare supply chain, according to an October 1 report in Axios. According to the article, the facility is a critical production center for produces intravenous…

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Editor's Note A joint communication from AORN and the Association of Healthcare Value Analysis Professionals (AHVAP, a strategic partner of AORN) provides advice and resources for affiliated healthcare professionals who could be impacted by the recent strike by port workers across major US shipping ports. Issued September 30, the statement…

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Editor's Note The success of flood-resistant engineering and a daring rooftop rescue are amid the positive stories to emerge amid the many tragedies wrought by Hurricane Helene, which made landfall as a Category 4 this past weekend in Florida before drenching much of the Southeast and Midwest. Left with too…

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Editor's Note The Health Infrastructure Security and Accountability Act, introduced by Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.), proposes new mandatory cybersecurity standards for the healthcare sector, with oversight from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Nextgov/FCW reported September 26. The bill, which amends the Health Insurance…

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Editor's Note Research shows antibiotic-resistant infections could lead to 8.2 million deaths annually by 2050, representing a 75% increase from current rates, according to a September 17 article in HealthDay. Published in the Lancet, the new study highlights the growing threat of growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), predicting that…

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Editor's Note A recent study conducted at a tertiary care hospital in India showed concurrent COVID-19 infection on patients undergoing emergency surgery resulted in notably longer hospital stays and higher rates of postoperative complications. Published September 8 in Cureus, the retrospective cohort study analyzed data from 48 COVID-19-positive patients and…

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Editor's Note Cyberattacks in August 2024 are the latest examples of a specific Iranian group intensifying efforts against US organizations since 2017, Healthcare IT News reported September 3. Citing an advisory issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Department of Defense…

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Editor's Note The Red Cross is reporting a 25-percent drop in its national blood inventory due to hot weather a month after the American Hospital Association (AHA) warned about the impact of cyberattacks on critical supplies at hospitals. According to an August 6 report in The Hill, heat-related challenges have…

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